THE TOP 10 NON-ADVENTURE GAMES OF ALL TIME – Welcome to Just Adventure + – Articles — Part 7

Articles

THE TOP
10 NON-ADVENTURE GAMES OF ALL TIME

Article
by Agustín Cordes and Michal
Necasek




October 3, 2003


5.
Civilization
– Microprose, 1991

Civilization - Microprose, 1991Civilization is
one of many creations of Sid Meier, perhaps the most famous designer
of strategy games, and first in the long line of Civilization titles.
A game starts in 4000BC and you become the ruler of civilization
of your choice (you can pick from the list of about 15 predefined
ones). There are two ways to win: either destroy all other civilizations
or build a spaceship and establish an outpost on another planet.
To that end, you must first invent many new technologies and concepts
and build a number of city improvements. Each city collects resources
from its surrounding area and its output can be directed towards
building of city improvements or military (and a few non-military)
units. Your civilization can use any of a number of systems of
government, each with its drawbacks and benefits. Combat in Civilization is
extremely simple – one unit attacks another and the losing one
will simply disappear forever. Excepting combat, Civilization is
a very complex game and learning how to manage cities efficiently
and make your citizens happy takes a little while. Civilization is
a rich, fun to play turn-based strategy game and a great time sink.
Players are known to have completely lost track of time while building
their own civilizations.

Number
4

Agustin Cordes

Agustin Cordes

Did you ever have that feeling when you realize something that will never change? I mean, do you remember when you realized your girlfriend would be your wife for the rest of your life? Oh, you're not married, I see - me neither. But anyway, my point is: the first day I played King's Quest back in 1987, I knew I'd be forever in love with the genre. Seriously, after entering a castle, climbing up a tree, exploring a cave and finding all kinds of treasures, I realized that was the kind of game I loved - with King's Quest I felt the sense of adventure in all its splendour and, while now it seems a bit bland after all these years, I still remember it as an enlightening experience. That's right - after King's Quest, I was an avid adventure gamer. Years passed, more adventures were played and the internet appeared. Somehow, I needed to find a place where I could gather more information about adventures, where I could satisfy my adventuring needs. Of the small bunch of sites dedicated to the genre, only one stood above the rest with loads of info and quality. Even better, where in most sites adventures were covered like a mere day-job, in this site the staff showed a whole-hearted love for the genre, just like me - that's how I knew about Just Adventure. More years passed, even more adventures were played and lots of visits to JA were payed. One day, the JA forum opened and, without intention, I was sucked in. Next, I could write a line like "less games were played, lots of posts were made" but I guess that's getting pretty tiresome by now. Cut to the chase: one day I started a topic about unfinished adventures with several comments, Randy liked it, he asked if I wanted to write an article about it and that's it - I'm in! Now a little about me. I'm 23 years old. As you may have guessed from my spelling mistakes, English isn't my native language. I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Right now I'm working as a programmer in a communications-oriented company. Also, I'm carrying on my Electronic Engineering career, which I'm liking a lot. When I'm not working and studying, I usually try to sleep - when I'm not sleeping it's because I'm playing games. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and horror, genres I love on books, movies and games. Lovecraft is my most favorite writer. I'm a weird guy - people close to me know I'm a slightly deranged person. I often enjoy things most normal people don’t, like Monty Python (I really love British humour) and bizarre, low-budget, badly-acted horror movies. As for my favorite games - Wasteland, Fallout and System Shock are right at the top of my list. Yes, I know what you're thinking, "after that initial speech, this guy is telling me his favorite games are RPG's?!". Well, while those are the games I most enjoyed for several reasons (being a post-apocaliptic nut for two of them), that doesn't mean the adventure genre isn't the most I like. In fact, I've played and enjoyed so many adventures that it's very difficult for me to pick a few single favorites.